What Is It About Iowa?

Two recent decisions by higher courts in Iowa might make you wonder what judges are drinking in that state. In the first case, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that a dentist who fired his assistant because she was too attractive had acted legally. The dentist was afraid that he would start an affair with the woman, even though she had worked for him for 10 years and had always acted professionally on the job.  The justices held that the firing didn’t violate the law because it was prompted by the man's feelings rather than illegal gender discrimination. It was earlier revealed that the Dentist’s wife had discovered that he was sending Twitter messages to the assistant.

In the other case (see LaughingStockNation post July 11, 2013), an Iowa appellate court overturned the conviction of a man who beat his puppy to death with a baseball bat for peeing on the carpet. Judges Larry J. Eisenhaur and Mary E. Tabor, who made up the majority of the three-judge panel, concluded that the man’s behavior didn’t rise to the level of depravity, sadism or torture required by the law. “I have some great difficulty understanding how you can beat a puppy to death and not have sadistic intent,” said a local attorney concerned with animal welfare.